Obama Won't Pardon Snowden, Trump's Favorability Increasing, IRS Wants Names of Bitcoin Users: P.M. Links

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Dennis Van TIne/UPI/Newscom President Barack Obama says he can't pardon Edward Snowden, but it's probably more likely that he won't pardon him.
- Now that the election's over, President-Elect Donald Trump's favorability ratings are slowly ticking back upwards. He's still below 50 percent, though.
- Kris Kobach, Kansas' secretary of state and possible Trump pick for his cabinet, brought his written plans for national security to a meeting with Trump. A photographer managed to capture some of the info in a picture.
- The #CalExit folks (those who want to have California secede from the union) are starting to push a new ballot initiative, hoping to get more support in the wake of Trump's election. They are apparently still unaware that several inland counties within California went for Trump.
- Democrats in North Carolina are calling on Republican Gov. Pat McCrory to concede the election. He trails Democratic challenger and state Attorney General Roy Cooper by 6,600 votes currently.
- The IRS is looking to force Coinbase to provide a list of customers who engaged in virtual currency (like bitcoin) transactions to find those who might be skirting the tax code.
- Workers at Chicago's O'Hare airport voted to strike starting Nov. 29. They want $15-an-hour wages.
- Democratic Hawaiian Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (a supporter of Bernie Sanders) broke ranks to meet with Trump today. She put out a statement saying they discussed her concerns about military escalation in Syria and desire to end our involvement in that country. Of additional interest (particularly where the Trump administration is concerned): She's a member of the Fourth Amendment Caucus that formed earlier in the year to try to rein in government surveillance.
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I say we whatever Reason until something is done. WHO'S WITH ME?
You're just jumping on the protest bandwagon! Probably to meet chicks.
Eek barba-durkle,*someone's* going to get laid in college!
Hello.
"Workers at Chicago's O'Hare airport voted to strike starting Nov. 29. They want $15-an-hour wages."
Hopefully this $15 wage madness will subside for the next four years. Progressive academics had a free kick at the can for the last eight years. Hopefully they'll know their place now. I said HOPEFULLY.
Chicago's on the Detroit path, so whatever makes airlines route traffic elsewhere now is just inadvertent planning for the future when Chicago doesn't matter much anymore - at least not enough to put up with any exposure to Illinois bureaucracy, even for just a layover.
Oh shit, I LIVE a few blocks from an airport relatively close to O'Hare. Damn Chicagoans and their likely causing increased Skynoise!!
Hey, there's an idea. $15 an hour for Progressive Academics. THAT'S a wage fight I can get behind (although a lot of them would still be overpaid).
Fuck, I just booked a business trip in/out of O'Hare for the 29th.
I love how it became a thing in Canada six months after it started in the US. And Alberta NDP is still saying they'll do it by 2018, so just in time to get booted out of power....
That's why we're vocal in U.S. affairs. Their prog stupidity always seems to find its way up here!
At least we have some conservatives around to fight it in the good ol USA. Granted, in Canada they'll apologize when they screw it all up, right?
Well, to be fair, $11.19/hour is not nearly as nutty as $15.00/hour.
We're not gonna protest.
Sang to Twister Sister's 'We're not gonna take it!'
Twister Sister? Is that one of those Canadian bands?
No, that's just what he calls his sister.
It's Sister Twister, the nun with the nipple clamps.
MEAT TOSSER!
Whatever
That's the spirit!
WHAT DOES REASON LOOK LIKE?
THIS IS WHAT REASON LOOKS LIKE!!!!
And until I can see the alt text on my phone!
Or on Kindle Fire!
President Barack Obama says he can't pardon Edward Snowden...
I mean, he embarrassed that administration!
There is a difference between "can't" and "chooses not to do so."
Shackelford stole that point from us.
Alt text sung to this tune.
From the same article, Obama said, "If everybody took the approach that I make my own decisions about these issues, then it would be very hard to have an organized government".
Clearly, the President and his pen and phone are exempt from this fine sentiment.
I have the weird feeling that Pen and Phone are actually sentient beings controlling Obama like a puppet... the Left's version of Hat and Hair.
...President-Elect Donald Trump's favorability ratings are slowly ticking back upwards.
It was those pictures of Hillary without make-up or a soft filter or whatever was up with her.
When the media outrage machine goes 24/7 against someone their popularity goes down. Once they let up, people realize they never really cared that much.
OT, but has anyone else noticed a conservation-of-momentum violating Star Trek impulse-type drive might actually (holy shit) work?
If it is real, in thousand years this thing's creation will be what is remembered as the big history - not Trump, Shrillz, ISIS, etc. - from the year 2010's.
And cold fusion works, too.
Cold Fusion rocked until Macromedia and Adobe bought them from Allaire.
Cold fusion, as advertised, was quickly falsified. It has a lasting psychic payload simply because of the butthurt from all the early proponts and now gets a bad rap when those looking to do serious science on it look for funding. Not that those feelings are misplaced given the physical theories supporting it are tenuous at best.
The EM drive has, to date, resisted repeated attempts to falsify that it produces thrust. Unlike cold fusion, it also has a workable - and independently testable - set of theoretical principles which describe its operation. The recent paper deals with this in its discussion section http://arc.aiaa.org/doi/10.2514/1.B36120. What's important here is that Bohmian mechanics has been around since the early days and was effectively set aside in favor of quantum mechanics because, in 1930, it was ,too hard to compute. Not only has computing come quite a long way since the '30s but there is strong outside evidence from recent Quantum hydrodynamic experimentation that suggest how the EM drive works without violating the principles of entropy. Recall that Einstein said "God doesn't play dice," he might actually have been right.
Of course God doesn't play dice - he's down at the sports book. Why do you think those athletes that win are always praising God?
+1 Thanks to Jesus and My Mom
"The requested article is not currently available on this site."
Welcome aboard if you are a newcomer.
Can you please provide other links to this, both technical and not?
In case the system has eaten my more detailed reply, the paper is by Harold White et al., "Measurement of Impulsive Thrust from a Closed Radio-Frequency Cavity in Vacuum" J. Propulsion and Power
A google search will work, and the references in that paper will point you on the right path for the quantum hydrodynamics experiments.
Seeing as it has, I'll highlight that I think we are witnessing the resolution of the nearly century old rift between relativistic classical mechanics and quantum dynamics. The hydrodynamics teams have been able to demonstrate on a macro scale phenomena such as: the results of the double-slit experiment, tunneling, and the separation of electrons into orbitals. Its elegant enough to pass the gut check, and stuff I never would have expected in my lifetime which suggests I should perhaps modify my priors.
Yes, but I am waiting to see if it actually does.
That, and/or the discovery of an alien dyson sphere...
I see they've heard about Trump's election and are going into their shell.
They already sent an invasion force but the entire battle fleet was swallowed by a small dog.
Aw, so kawaii. Or kowai?
You know who else underestimated the micronians?
I still have no tea.
It's been done.
+1 drunken Scotsman yelling at clouds
If it is real, in thousand years this thing's creation will be what is remembered as the big history - not Trump, Shrillz, ISIS, etc. - from the year 2010's.
I've always thought this is a fascinating topic - what is remembered as history a long time out. 1000 years from now, probably the only household name from the last century will be Neil Armstrong. All the politics/war/etc stuff doesn't really have a long lasting impact past a few hundred years.
Einstein?
Some composer or painter?
Neil Armstrong genocided the Moon Maidens. We call it Indigenous Humanoids' Day now.
SIV has been experimenting with the impulse-type drive by installing it into the cloacas of his gamecocks to make their attacks more fierce. His device includes the insides of a small RV microwave placed inside one of those popcorn acoppers he stole from the local movie theater.
-10 points for missing the obvious copper moonshine still reference.
The World Wars will be remembered I assume. I was reading the Illiad in high school, the Trojan War was well over 1,000 years ago.
Except the age of heroes is long dead; people remember the Illiand and Troy because of Hector and Achillies. There were no heroes in WW2. The price we pay for not killing me up close.
You know who else will be remembered in 1,000 years?
Ted Williams?
Emperor Trump?
The start of a thousand year empire?
SugarFree?
The Beetles?
This guy?
Barack Obama, the most transparent president ever?
Imperator Barack the Mendacious I?
The second world war definitely will be remembered, as it was a major turning point in world history. It can be reasonably argued that WW2 was responsible for (or contributed greatly to) the crumbling of the European empires, the halt to empire building that has lasted over 70 years so far, the creation of the UN and the current international consensus, the massive decline of popular support for eugenics and racism (due to their negative association with the Nazis and Imperial Japan), the development of nuclear weapons, kicking off the space race via the ensuing cold war (not to mention all the development in rocketry that was initialized to deliver bombs), and having a major impact on literature/entertainment (there are probably more books/films about WW2 than any other war).
I do believe that in one thousand years the entire thing will be viewed and spoke of as a hundred year conflict. WW1 and 2, the Cold War, today's Middle East engagements: it'll all be cast as the same extended conflict. Which I also believe is the right way to view it today.
That's an interesting idea, and it definitely has merit (and precedence - the Hundred Years War was not a continual war, after all, but a series of wars between the same belligerents with the same objective).
Exactly. Furthermore each event from WW1 through today directly connects in a dominoes falling way. I mean just look at the conflict in Israel -- shit was set up as part of the post WW2 conditions.
The domino theory was right!! I knew it!!
Today's "Middle East" engagements started with the Barbary Pirates Wars, I and II.
They still continue.
LIKE HELL THERE WEREN'T!
Now listen, Medal of Honor stories give a coward like me a hard on.
But these men are just good soldiers, not the mythic heroes of old whose legends will pass down through the eons. That's what I mean when I say the age of heroes is over.
He won the MoW for single-handedly holding of a company of enemy troops.
1 vs ~80-250 is Achilles odds.
off
Totally agree man, 100%, but it's just not a story that's going to make it 1,000 years from now.
MoH. Geez.
The 'mythic heroes of old' were also known as brutal murders and oppressors. And we do have our own - Hitler, Mao, Stalin, Pol Pot. People with the will-to-power to brutalize whole populations. Those are the people remembered a thousand years later.
Think of Hercules - and then look closely at his accomplishments. Think of Ghengis Khan.
I agree with that, definitely brutes and killers. But that's sort of what I am getting at -- heroes = Fame earned on the battlefield. I don't think that exists anymore and hasn't for a long time; unless you count a medal ceremony and a shiny 15 minutes at a football game. I can't think of any legendary warriors since a little after the Civil War (that definitely had battlefield fighters elevated to historical heroes).
George S Patton would like a word
But he is probably the only one who fits that bill from WW2, possibly Rommel as well and over in Russia Zhukov has the same (well deserved) reputation.
They'll still be Godwinning threads in 1000 years. Bet on it.
Hector and Achilles and all the heroes are probably almost entirely fictional. The world wars may well have their own heroes in 1000 years too. And one could argue that Roosevelt and Stalin and Churchill were the heroes of WW2. It may be that the age of heroes is always long dead. When the Iliad was written down, the age of heroes was long dead.
Hector and Achilles and all the heroes are probably possibly almost entirely fictional.
Heh. Bit of a fan boy of the classic sword swinging heroes of the past (I know it was bronze spears and chariots.)
I agree though in part my friend; Churchill definitely could be well remembered -- his story from WW1 disaster to WW2 glory is really powerful. And I tip my hat to any leader who fought on a battlefield.
I'm going to stick with saying that the characters we know by those names are quite probably complete fiction, though they may vaguely be based on real people. But I don't think there is much evidence for the historicity of any of the events of the Iliad.
And I make no comment on my personal views of the possible heroes of WW2. I'm just suggesting that history may remember it that way in the future when no one has any direct connection to it anymore.
There were no heroes in WW2.
Churchill will be remembered.
FDR will be remembered.
Audie Murphy?
Lol yeah that isn't the way it will work at all.
Kids may not be remembering lists of early American Presidents (or even the last American Presidents) anymore but there will be WAY more than just Neil Armstrong remembered in 1000 years. I suspect Speilberg and Lucas will be up there, likely Tolkien, King, and a handful of other major writers. MLK will almost certainly still be remembered and there is a non zero chance that Gates and Jobs would still be remembered for creating the computer revolution.
And that is just what people will have some general idea of, academics will have full access to petabytes of records surviving from this period and be studying the lives and works of hundreds of other peoples.
Orlando Jones concurs...
If I had to guess, MLK will be a footnote to something that hasn't happened yet, Spielberg will be known to serious students of whatever film becomes, Lucas and King will be completely forgotten.
I doubt that, Star Wars is enough of a cultural phenomenon that it will still be remembered 1000 years from now
Star Wars will be forgotten--as we use our impulse drives(being tested now to get us out of the system before engaging warp(being tested now), Star Trek will loom large.
That is an interesting thing to think about. And it's not really something that is easy to extrapolate from past experiences. We are so much better at recording and copying information than people have been at any time in the past. Assuming there isn't a major failure of civilization and technology, there will be so much historical information in the future that the question won't be so much what information will survive from now, which is the big problem with studying history now, but what information will people still have any interest in bothering with.
Too bad we'll never get to see what happens.
We are so much better at recording and copying information than people have been at any time in the past.
And deleting it just as easily. You know, like with a cloth?
There is that too. But then we also have eastern European hackers and Australian weirdos to archive it all for us.
But in the past, if a city got sacked or a major library burned down, a lot of stuff was lost forever. Now stuff is distributed all over the place and so easily copied that I don't think that happens.
Then there is the fact that most digital media we use isn't exactly archival quality. But paper and vellum don't last forever either. I think the future will be pretty flush with information about the past, though some is always bound to be lost.
Then there is the fact that most digital media we use isn't exactly archival quality. But paper and vellum don't last forever either. I think the future will be pretty flush with information about the past, though some is always bound to be lost.
That's what the National Archives are for, and they decide what goes in. You other points are noted; however, the more secure private stuff is guaranteed encrypted, and there's no guarantee of a key available then, and hacker can only get you so far. There will be as much information as TPTB want to survive, both governments and industries (note how much they intertwine, and overall, it's not lessening, really).
Think of so much stuff that is destroyed or taken offline and server scrubbed every day. Hell there's stuff I remember from my earlier years that was available on line (video game websites and modding utilities) that has been thrown into the ether, never to be found again. The Wayback is only so useful to a point....
The burning down of libraries is the true crime against humanity. I can't even imagine how much knowledge was lost.
It's really sad and frustrating to think about. We have a tiny amount of original material from Classical Antiquity and even less from a lot of other times. And a lot was lost in single large events.
"The burning down of libraries is the true crime against humanity. I can't even imagine how much knowledge porn was lost."
"Am I doing this right, Hillary?"
The guy who scrawled the obscene graffiti on a wall in Pompeii probably wouldn't have believed you if, after he sobered up, you told him that 2 thousand years from then, educated men would be poring over his crudely drawn penises.
A thousand years from now, people will be trawling the oddly structured bandwidths they discovered under the gestalt and treat it like finding a trilobite. They will be astounded that people built computing machines out of matter and liken it to flint-knapping.
Isn't the whole problem with that idea that you create a bubble of supercharged particle whatitzcalleds that just keep going when you stop and have the potential to really wreck anything light years in front of you?
/Not a science major
No that was the albecurre drive. a theoretical idea that should work to provide for FTL travel and works a lot like the Warp Drive from Star Trek. The other problem with an albecurre drive is we havn't got the slightest idea for how to build one using available technology and there is a possibility it might never be possible.
This does not create an FTL system but rather a working impulse from Star Trek where you have a drive which does not require the expulsion of mass to propel you and unlike the albecurre drive they already have built models to test which to this point at least really do seem to work.
To be pedantic, Star Trek 'Impulse' drives are not massless drives. They're MHD drives with plasma as the reaction mass. The EM drive actually is massless and one of its theoretical models is that it moves by 'pushing' off quantum vacuum by 'throwing energy at it.'
I'm not sure it's violating conservation of momentum?
According to the "Technical Report on the Development of a Microwave Engine for Satellite Propulsion" (discussion starts on page 4 and ends with theory of operation on page 6), they're using the tapered shape to convert the reverse energy into energy perpendicular to the engine (hopefully equal in all directions perpendicular or it'll just go in circles).
See paper above, but there are at least two workable theories one being the vacuum push the other being Quantized inertia / Unruh radiation. Depending on the true operating principles at work, the EM drive might be saleable to the point we no longer need traditional rockets. Assuming, of course, that our benevolent regulators get over their fear of flying nuclear reactors.
On the one hand, if it doesn't actually emit particles of some sort, it's violating conservation of momentum, even if it consumes energy. That gets kinda rarefied in cases like laser and maser drives, where the particles you kick out the back are photons (which didn't exist prior to being created by the energy, and have no rest mass), but if there are no particles of any kind coming out the back, there is new, strange physics going on. Since the thing doesn't apparently emit anything . . .
On the other hand, precisely because of the example of laser/maser drives, we really can't be entirely sure it isn't some sort of undetectable particle being kicked out the back. After all, we can't detect dark matter except by its gravitational effects, and gravitational effects are tiny.
A photographer managed to capture some of the info in a picture.
Trump was going to tweet that shit out eventually anyway.
Do we really want a SOS that is that sloppy with security?
/lack of self awareness leftist
Isn't this act #35 in the media trolling playbook for newly elected presidents?
(act #34 was getting your VP to see a left-wing Broadway show)
WSJ: Advertisers realize they may have been targeting the wrong people since polls were wrong about the election. This is going to cause more delicious prog tears as the new glamorous is that midwestern farmgirl, not the coastal urban elites.
(Originally linked in the WHO thread by Je Suis Woodchipper, but bears repeating.)
Doesn't everybody prefer Mary Ann to Ginger?
(Well, except for Tonio who prefers the Professor.)
Ha, but wrong.
Going after the millionaire. Smart.
I too am attracted to the Skipper's physical girth and gruff manner.
Given the limited choice, it would be the Skipper.
You seem to forget the multitude of guest stars on the show people who managed to get off the island, such as this strapping fella.
Your lack of TV triva knowledge is abysmal. You disgust me. You must now commit seppuku. You have dishonoured your family name.
My goodness, repelling those Russian invaders has made you a hard man.
So has Dr. ZG (and continues to). Repeatedly. *wiggles eyebrows*
That leaves Thurston "Skinny Mike Huckabee" Howell, The "Skinny Chris Christie" Skipper, and First Mate "Skinny Lara Flynn Boyle" Gilligan.
I feel like you chose poorly, Tonio.
It was Gilligan, wasn't it.
Oh, Rhywun, what have I ever done to you...
Whomp him with your hat!
Ha. I've always had a thing for goofy losers so guess which one I preferred.
Ahhhhhh....
To the eternal question of Mary Ann or Ginger there is only one correct answer.
Jeannie.
She has magical powers and calls you Master.
+ Samantha
Of course we all know that Mrs. Brady was the real freak.
In her youth when she got knocked up a bunch. None of those kids were Mr. Brady's.
You do know that only 3 of those kids are *supposed* to be hers by a previous husband and the 3 boys are Mike's from a previous wife?
Right right, she had the girls and he had the boys.
I prefer Tulsi to Hillary.
I was the freak 10yr old who preferred Velma to Daphne. I knew right away that the beauty queen was high-maintenance, and the dork had a dirty mind.
Glasses stay on, amirite?
Biggest Winner: Farmersonly.com.
You don't have to be lonely, people.
Udderly inappropriate, Crusty.
That pun was ba-a-a-a-a-a-d.
Farmgirl?????
Farm person is the preferred nomenclature.
Only a spokesman for the racist, sexist, xenophobic, cisgendered patriarchy still refers to women engaged in agriculture as "farmgirls". Not that there is anything wrong with farmgirls, though.
No they still prefer farmgirl.. 😉
The IRS is looking to force Coinbase to provide a list of customers who engaged in virtual currency (like bitcoin) transactions to find those who might be skirting the tax code.
Force? Oh, come on. What's gonna happen if they don't?
It will be interesting to see what the next administration does with that agency.
I bet Rep. Tulsi Gabbard doesn't mind this sort privacy violation at all
The #CalExit folks (those who want to have California secede from the union) are starting to push a new ballot initiative, hoping to get more support in the wake of Trump's election.
They're really just one fault line shimmy away from getting that separation.
+1 Otisburg
Arizona Bay.
If by some chance they do get that on the ballot and it is passed, I expect to see the Republicans eagerly racing to amend the constitution to permit this (and the other D states scrambling to prevent it), as it would immediately give the Republicans an edge in presidential elections and increase their relative majority in the House by +25 seats.
I love this SJW cringe compilations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmIiquGvkDk
These cringe compilations.
Holy mother of God.
The guy at the end especially.
Good golly me.
I gotta say, despite the fact that I think Trump will be a mediocre president, I'm REALLY enjoying the massive lamenting, whining, in-fighting, and blame-tossing that is currently raging through Progland right now.
Democratic Hawaiian Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (a supporter of Bernie Sanders) broke ranks to meet with Trump today.
Somewhere in the 2015 H&R archive I suggested her as a good VP pick for Trump.
She is one of the more sane Dems
Also one of the sexier Dems.
"Who cares about those hicks? They will be with us whether they like it or not."
"We won't be bullied by Washington, but we reserve the right to bully our own."
"several inland counties" meaning just under half of all CA counties.
Del Norte County (with its 8K votes) spits on your 'inland' designation.
Also, the turn-out for someplace like Orange County shows just how much the gerrymandering has disaffected RW voters in CA.
They can be West California and regular California just like Virginia.
The new capital of Eastfornia will be...Otisburgh.
I suggested to a friend from California that rural Cali might secede from the urban areas if Calexit actually happened.
I'm actually quite excited for the return of the city-state.
I've always kinda thought of California north of Eureka as California's Own Private Idaho.
I own a 51st State of Jefferson shirt and wear it proudly. It's a bit of a... conversation starter.
Snow Crash was forty years too early.
Gerald Ford pardoning Nixon? Lawyers of the commentariat, help an idiot - is there a distinction here? I mean, Snowden was charged, yes?
No he hasn't been.
To charge him, they need to complete their investigation, and then a clock starts ticking for trial.
They won't charge him until and unless they get their hands on him.
That's why they never charged Hillary, too slippery.
Never say the words, "Hillary," and, "slippery," in the same sentence ever again, Paul. Just. Don't.
You're riding quite the baloney streak. From the wiki:
The statute of limitations and "speedy trial" clocks are suspended when you flee the jurisdiction.
Nixon was an unindicted co-conspirator when Ford pardoned him.
Nixon was never charged with anything.
Does it matter?
Doesn't look like being charged is necessary there, has this been litigated before?
He's bandying semantics. He may not be able to *pardon* Snowden - but his power extends to offering an amnesty.
No, he's completely lying. Ford not only pardoned Nixon but also all the draft dodgers who had never been charged. Andrew Johnson pardoned all the Confederate officials, who again had never been charged.
So is he going to use that same standard with Hillary?
So is he going to use that same standard with Hillary?
President Barack Obama says he can't pardon Edward Snowden, but it's probably more likely that he won't pardon him.
Has he no pen? Has he no phone?
A lame duck president's phone only gets 50 minutes a month after election day.
All that golf isn't gonna play itself, also.
No spine
Hillary hardest hit.
Definitely with a shovel! And a mattock. And pick axe. And a sledgehammer....
He has carpal tunnel from all the executive orders.
If you prick him, is he not a prick?
Democrats in North Carolina are calling on Republican Gov. Pat McCrory to concede the election. He trails Democratic challenger and state Attorney General Roy Cooper by 6,600 votes currently.
Yeah, give that one up. Democrats only ever gain vote tallies in recount situations.
That, and the fact that most other statewide races went to Republicans, so it wasn't Democratic voters who cost McCrory the election -- it was Republican and Republican-leaning voters who "defected" when it came to the governor's race.
Democratic Hawaiian Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (a supporter of Bernie Sanders) broke ranks to meet with Trump today.
Guess who's going to wake up with a horse head in her bed tomorrow?
Lucky horse head
Hopefully, Tulsi is the future of the Democratic Party.
The IRS is looking to force Coinbase to provide a list of customers who engaged in virtual currency (like bitcoin) transactions to find those who might be skirting the tax code.
Good thing our tax compliance is completely voluntary.
It looks like there is no escaping the all-encompassing state.
Indians did manage to get around currency restrictions through Hawala though. So there's got to be some hope for us here.
Cold-weather warning
Wow, it was like Where's Waldo trying to find that cow in its "hiding place"!
#CalExit is old and busted. New hotness is California, Oregon and Washington states breaking off to form Cascadia, according to people I've seen actually sharing a petition to make that happen.
Do...do Democrats understand what happened last time they attempted to secede because they disliked the result of a Presidential election?
Rhett Butler got paid?
Kratman covered that:
"Then, too, there's the most amusing aspect of your spoiled brat tendency to temper tantrums, the call for secession of the left coast, to form what I suppose we should come to call the "Socialist Peoples' Democratic Republic of Moonbattia." Now think about that. You hate guns and war and don't know much of anything about either. The bulk of the people who would be inside your prospective borders and who do know something about guns and war hate your guts. That's Strike One. Because of privilege and diversity and a host of your other magic words, you'll want to provide maximum feasible disadvantage to those who might otherwise be willing to defend you, straight males. That's Strike Two. By leaving the union you will ensure that a) other lefty states must as well, which b) will ensure a right wing, no, an overwhelming right wing majority in the rest of the United States, probably in perpetuity. And then you won't control or defend your southern border, indeed, you'll invite Mexico in, though Mexico won't be content to stay in your pissant idiots' paradise, which means that to defend ourselves we'll have to invade, crush you, reconstruct you, and certainly never allow you to vote in the US again, except for those larger portions of your area that will side with us. That's Strike Three and you ninnies will be out."
Block text says what?
Eh, we'll just build a wall instead.
I think this time the Republicans will let them go, to avoid the hassle of dealing with them.
I don't care if they take Twilight Vampire Place and Portlandia with them, losing California is worth that "price". C'mon Cascadia!! Go through with it!! Please!!
From the "Obama says he can't pardon Snowden" article:
"'Noa Yachot, director of the Pardon Snowden campaign, questioned Obama's reasoning in a blog post published Friday, pointing out that other presidents ? including Obama ? have pardoned people who were indicted but did not stand trial.
""Richard Nixon hadn't even been indicted when Gerald Ford issued a 'full, free, and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed or may have committed or taken part in' over the course of his presidency," Yachot wrote. "Nor had the thousands of men who had evaded the Vietnam War draft, who were pardoned unconditionally by Jimmy Carter on his first day in office." Yachot notes that in January, Obama himself pardoned three Iranians who had been charged with sanctions violations as part of the Iran nuclear deal."
Let's not forget the amnesty of the ex-Confederates after the Civil War.
Obama doesn't want to for political considerations.
Where there's a will, there's a way.
Please, you give him too little credit.
Political considerations AND personal peeve.
Had Snowden done it under Bush...well, I'd put money on pardon.
I know what you're saying Pan, but I'd have taken that bet. In the end, he would have relied on the advice of his security experts.
Obama is being disingenuous? J'AMAIS.
SACRE BLEU! INCROYABLE! TABERNAC'!!!
Of additional interest (particularly where the Trump administration is concerned): She's a member of the Fourth Amendment Caucus that formed earlier in the year to try to rein in government surveillance.
She's also a traitor who must be ostracized. SHE'S GIVING TRUMP VALIDITY.
Maybe she's going to him because he's a star?
Where do you report a pussy-grabbing?
Animal Control?
XM radio.
Penthouse?
OB-Gynaecologist?
On Twitter, naturally.
Youtube?
Clinton Foundation!
Obama says he can't pardon Snowden, but $5 says he pardons Hillary the morning of January 20.
USD right? JUST MAKING SURE.
All bets on this site must be in real currency, so no Canadian pesos.
But tire money is ok, right?
Too rich for my blood!
I think the investigation into the Clinton Foundation will be quietly closed.
She will run again in 2020.
Not even the democrats will run a two-time loser. I'd wager on Cory Booker.
More to the point, I'm not convinced Hill's health will allow her to make it to 2020...
I'm with you Injun. She's already plotting her primary run in 2020.
And who on the Democratic side of the slate will oppose her? Holy shit, her cult will go bonkers for the rematch. This time she can't go wrong!
Third time's the harm.
Shrill-Bot/Blood Clot 2020!
So Sarkozy is out as a candidate for French presidential election next year. BBC has a good writeup of last two remaining candidates for the Republican nomination (and most likely president, as Socialist candidate won't make top two, and Le Pen will lose in the runoff when all the mainstream parties close ranks).
And France finds its freak out Trump moment!
They kinda had it in 2002.
Ah yes. Chirac. Now there's a classic French corrupter.
Agh, they edited the article and took down the list of Jupe's policies.
They included retirement age to 65, sales tax up 2%, cut in income tax, elimination of 'wealth tax'.
They should get rid of that 50% inheritance tax. That thing's destroyed more families' wealth than two world wars.
I really laced into a prog friend of mine about that. I mean, like all 'fuck you it's none of your business and not your place to determine who 'deserves' it and sure as hell doesn't give you the fucking right to tax it because you feel fucking envious and think it's 'fair' and 'just' to take their money and throw it into society as if it's some sort of zero sum economic system we live in' run on rant.
Klinsmann fired.
Corpses have no rights. If you expect the govt to back up your executor in forcing third parties to comply with the handover of property to your heirs, then expect them to take a cut for the service.
If you want to give your kids money, give it to them before you die. Not hard.
Why this?
Because.
Trolling for socon votes. Duh. Also, more likely to happen than a ban on abortions which would torpedo that candidate's chances.
It does jump out in that list, doesn't it? Unless you're a lefty, in which case it's a list of Horrible Evil Things he will do.
No clue - something about mother/father family being better, and there being more couples wishing to adopt than orphans going around?
I believe the socon types also generally believe gay men are more likely to be pedophiles or something like that.
And finally found the article I had in mind. It includes the quote:
It also has Jupe's policies:
But the euro wienies are shitting themselves with fear that Le Pen might win.
Don't they have to shit themselves about the rerun of the Austrian presidential election first?
That's mostly for domestic consumption. Once first round is finished, top two go into round two, and whoever is Le Pen's opponent will be endorsed by every other political party (probably Communists and Monarchists included).
I wonder if Emmanuel Macron has a chance. If Hollande decides to run for re-election, he won't finish among the top 4 candidates in the first round -- Le Pen, Fillon, Macron and at least somebody from the far left would be ahead of him.
Kris Kobach, Kansas' secretary of state and possible Trump pick for his cabinet, brought his written plans for national security to a meeting with Trump. A photographer managed to capture some of the info in a picture.
The photo, for you lazy bones who won't read the story. What the frick?
4 to 8 years of lulz like this.
I can't wait!
At least Mitt Romney is a professional.
That's intentional, obviously.
He emailed the *real* document to Trump's Yahoo account.
That's intentional, obviously.
Yeah OK
Whatever bleeds your wherever
Completely busted rooster cloaca?
NYT Headline: "Democrat Tulsi Gabbard Defends Her Visit to Trump Tower."
Alternative Headline: "Democrat Sellout Wh0re Defends Outcall to Trump Tower for p**** grabbing session."
The whole controversy that Melania and Barron Trump won't be moving into the White House until after the school year ends is actually the dumbest controversy of the whole election cycle, which is truly amazing.
The media didn't make a controversy about the Obama kids attending private school instead of sh1tty DC schools.
'Neath barrel's bottom
Is the next barrel's top. It's
Barrels all the way
It will take that long to reprogram B.A.R.R.O.N.'s geo-spatial context processor so he doesn't just walk in circles around the Lincoln Bedroom.
Nonsense. It's to make sure the 6's are carefully hidden and any religious objects are sequestered away, one by one.
I DID IT ALL FOR YOU BARRON!
Here's what occurred to me, as I was slogging around in the NYT OMFGTRUMPOCALYSE hysteria quagmire:
The Hyphenated-Americans think Trump is going to steal their hyphens, and take their specialness away. Who wants to be a boring old "American" after being a one-of-a-kind LGBTQRSTUV++-American, or whatever other tutti fruity flavor of Look-At-ME-American is currently fashionable.
Fuck 'em.
Make America A Melting Pot Again.
#BringBackOurHyphens?
Make America A Melting Pot Again.
#FondueNation
I thought we already did that when we threw water on her.
They are apparently still unaware that several inland counties within California went for Trump.
Trade them to Nevada, for a metropolitan area to be named later.
No need to beat around the bush. Las Vegas. Nevada will take all the Republican CA counties, and CA can have Vegas. As a former NV resident, I'd take that deal in a heartbeat.
Wear wool? As if! Alicia Silverstone strips down to pose nude in very racy PETA ad - choosing to proudly bare her backside rather than wear sheep fur
No Alicia - it's cold outside. Also, please put that sheep mask over your face or eat something high in protein. Thank you.
Yawn.
Wake me when PETA campaigns against halal slaughter. With ads in Arabic.
Filing this under "Things you're never, ever, ever going to see in this life."
The story includes a photo of her nice behind. Gosh.
All click bait should be worth the click.
Would click again.
Doing that would be the only way for Alicia to become Brigitte Bardot of our age.
Clueless star.
I see what they did there.
When they still refer to you as the star of a movie old enough to drink, you probably weren't too big of a star .
Would you prefer "Batman and Robin" star?
Would
Would shear? Most vegans could use some shearing.
Only with a meat tenderiser.
Next up, Alicia is gonna protest dog grooming.
40? WOW. She still looks awesome. She's always been a favorite of mine.
+1 Batgirl was the best part of that fucking movie
Idiot animal-abusers!! And I'm saying that in regards to PETA. Who apparently don't realize that SHEEP CAN DIE in a multitude of HORRIBLE WAYS if they are not shorn regularly.
Exactly. A shorn sheep has a much easier time escaping from a horny Scottsman.
Scotsman? What about somebody like Crusty making a run for the border with his new Montana blonde?
Don't be too hard on PETA: after all, if you had the choice of taking pictures of nude celebrities or doing boring old research about animals, what would you choose?
I think I'll take the cute sheep over Alicia.
*pulls on his collar*
Ahem... is it hot in here or is just me?
Maybe you should have a martini to cool off?
Thanks, that really hit the spot ; )
1. Have you ever met sheep? Like in real life? They are not 'gentle animals'. They're aggressive and smelly.
2. 'Beaten and kicked'? Really? Why? Sounds like you're making shit up there Silverstone. I know your career is dead but geez . . . In any case, if this is happening then the problem is not *wool per se* but the treatment of the sheep - might want to focus your efforts there.
3. No wool means no sheep. You do understand that, right? if we can't eat them and can't shear them then no one's going to pay to keep them alive. And they're not just going to let them run free as that's a liability headache the owners won't want. So they'll kill them and toss the bodies into a mass grave filled with lime. And not the good lime you'd use for a marinade either. The kind of lime that dissolves flesh and bone.
Probably too late but here is the greatest sheep movie scene
Now that the election's over, President-Elect Donald Trump's favorability ratings are slowly ticking back upwards. He's still below 50 percent, though.
I'm sure he's being helped by the media. Basically, there's no way any human being is as bad as what I've seen portrayed over the last couple of weeks, not even Hitler.
They are apparently still unaware that several inland counties within California went for Trump.
No one counts them.
"The #CalExit folks (those who want to have California secede from the union) are starting to push a new ballot initiative, hoping to get more support in the wake of Trump's election. They are apparently still unaware that several inland counties within California went for Trump."
You shut up. Don't let them know, it doesn't matter. Just let them leave. It'll be great.
If the inland counties agree to support sucession, we'll agree to quietly re-admit them immediately afterwards. They can even have the choice of forming their own 50th state or becoming part of Nevada or Arizona.
It worked for West Virginia. And its not like California can win a war to keep their state intact, so the US gets to pick and choose which parts they want to keep and which parts to let go in this scenario. This idea has much to recommend it.
Workers at Chicago's O'Hare airport voted to strike starting Nov. 29. They want $15-an-hour wages.
The rule of thumb is that the hourly wage should multiplied by 2000 hrs/year. So $15/hour is a $30,000/year wage.
I'm OK with that so long as layabouts can be fired.
They want a union too. So the layabouts can't be fired.
Of course, that means the workers won't actually make more money, they'll have a larger gross pay, but that will be eaten in SEIU dues and higher taxes.
The union bosses will be able to buy a second vacation home though (or a second politician).
Don't forget the no-show jobs that the union and their pols could dole out if the airport was unionized.
The #CalExit folks (those who want to have California secede from the union) are starting to push a new ballot initiative, hoping to get more support in the wake of Trump's election.
The rest of the leftists in your country should be absolutely outraged by this. Because the CalExit folks are basically saying "we want the United States to have complete right-wing dominance."
And what's the over-under on them demanding military protection and use of the currency like Quebec separatists do?
And what's the over-under on them demanding military protection and use of the currency like Quebec separatists do?
Also, will the U.S. Government mail millions of Social Security checks to foreigners?
It would be kinda funny to see them get a bill for their share of the national debt.
PWND
Unsurprising that we'd have the same thought, given that some accounting of debts owed would make sense.
*Punches Groovus Maximus in the shoulder.* No slugbacks!
On the other hand, if Trumpited States set up border controls with California, maybe Texas can be saved?
The lefty argument of Calexit stems from the fact that California gets only .85 cents on the dollar for federal income tax.
Narrowing that down a bit more, CA only gets is aggregated net tax income from Santa Clara County. If exiting takes hold, why shouldn't the silicon valley exit from CA?
The lefty argument of Calexit stems from the fact that California gets only .85 cents on the dollar for federal income tax.
Yes, Californian lefties, that is what "wealth redistribution" means and what it looks like in practice. Welcome to the consequences of your own policies.
And that's before they stuck with the bill for their share of The National Debt. The Exit Tax ain't just for citizenship renunciants!
Tsunami
Well, that was his last chance at not being a complete asshole, at least in my book. I thought it might be a late gesture of integrity.
Dollars to donuts he still grants Hillary and Co. blanket immunity. Because he's that kind of classy.
Windows 10 man.
No, I do not want your crappy apps. I've no need for the Windows store, no need for your calendar, no need for your camera app, no need for your fucking XBOX app.
SO STOP FUCKING REINSTALLING THEM AFTER EVERY UPDATE!
No, I didn't accidentally run PowerShell in administrator mode and look up the commands to force uninstalls for the stuff you won't let me uninstall normally. That wasn't a mistake. Stop bringing that shit back. You know what its called when you do that? Potentially Unwanted Programs - PUP's. In other words, malware.
The Win+G video recorder is pretty nice if you don't already have software for that. It works for more stuff than just games. It's a processor hog, though.
Valve has added a popup to Dota 2 that says "You have X-Box applicaton running, which is known to degrade performance. Would you like to learn how to disable it?"
Yeah, it's one of those things that you'd turn on if you need it and can spare the CPU and then promptly disable again. I think NVIDIA's Shadowplay is superior, but not everyone uses their cards.
they know the people using it are already utilizing most available cpu and gpu.
I've got other software for it. Better software. Stuff the rest of the people who do this sort of shit for a living use. And its open source and free to boot.
My biggest Windows 10 gripe: you can set a daily time period during which the computer will not automatically update itself and reboot. But the duration of that time period cannot be longer than 12 hours. WTF? It's my goddamn computer and if I don't want it to update, then don't fucking update it. And why do you need 12 hours to install updates anyway? I could transfer the entire contents of my hard drive across the Internet in 12 hours.
Hmm...
It's their whole "idiotproof like Apple" bullshit. No, make it configurable, make it reliable, and let people download addons to change it if they want. Microsoft should use the Linux distros as a goal, not iOS.
Microsoft should use the Linux distros as a goal
Unless that distro ships with GNOME 3 as its default interface...
The words "Kick ass" and "Fuck haters" were legible.
Isn't it sort of 'professional courtesy' for white house photographers to NOT announce that they incidentally captured sensitive intelligence? Or for media to at least blur stuff out? Or is everything fair-game as long as he's president-elect?
Not sensitive intelligence at all. And its fair game - I'd like to know a lot more about what a President and his potential picks are talking about, especially when it comes to their vision on where the agency should go.
Groundbreaking stuff.
This reminds me of "the orders from headquarters" that the soldiers in Red Vs. Blue were always waiting for. They always turned out to be "Try harder to win, and don't die"
Were I in that position, I'd have a hard time not putting a trolly cover over the stack.
1. Discover terrorist cells. Invite them over for cocoa and pie.
2. Fake another moon landing. The first didn't stick and people are beginning to doubt the official story.
3. Titty sprinkles on my cornflakes.
That's the shit
- "Throw Inauguration-Party in Area 51; Kochs, Rothschilds only"
- "Expand Department of Contrails"
- "Get Updates on AIDS v2.0 program - ask if we can expand from blacks/gays to mexicans and trannies"
- "Ask to See Bill Clinton Sex Dungeon in White House Basement"
Type the plot of the movie Siege as bullet points and see the storm that ensues?
The words "Kick ass" and "Fuck haters" were legible.
The trolling coninueth...
Isn't it sort of 'professional courtesy' for white house photographers to NOT announce that they incidentally captured sensitive intelligence?
Only if a (D) follows your name....
Dollars to donuts he still grants Hillary and Co. blanket immunity.
Let's not bicker about 'oo killed 'oo. Forget the past.
you just want to sing.
In all seriousness = Is there a Republican rep from Hawaii?
Charles Djou
Won a special election, lost re-election less than 6 months later.
Not only do they not have a Republican representative to Congress, the state is so lop-sided for the Democrats that the Hawaii State Senate has the distinction of being the only legislative body in America with just a single member of the opposition party (23 D v 1 R). That would be a lonely position.
just did lock work at a home owned by a libertarian. best work conversation ever.
Go on...
it's not a locksmith/escort service.
talked about the low rates for entrepreneurs in my age. talked about the new boulder sin tax, and how coloradocare failed.
Did he ask who you are and how you got into his house?
there was a fence! a locked gate!
Dang.
that is one of the best ones. every now and then i get to use that line.
I thought we were done with the euphemisms.
+1 Beach Boys song
Don't blame anyone but yourself when you wake up next to Gilligan.
A major hottie.
Would
Seen whut yew dun up 'ere.
I'd let her represent me.
Only with a shovel.
I'd follow her over the top.
What kind of sissy car you driving Tundra?
If you can't fit a cow in your wheel well you gotta tell your wife to let you upgrade your SUV.
Uffda!
The island's gonna find you?
Are you saying Gilligan was trapped on the island from Lost?!
Mind shattered unto the cosmos
The important part is *starting out* with the other two. What happened after I got blackout drunk doesn't count.
Relevant